Does your community do any thing about oak wilt?

[jodystreeserv3]

Just wondering if your community does anything about oak wilt or about informing the community about oak wilt. Example: a billboard saying " Dont prune February through June" or something along those lines. To many people in my area have no idea what oak wilt is and i was thinking of ways to inform them, but im only one person.

 

[inztrees]

Nope

 

[Pstuffel]

Austin is becoming hyper sensitive. At least in the central part of the community. There have been several music style venues based around educating the public on the matter. Some neighborhoods I have worked in such as Travis Heights, the neighbors will all come out and make sure you are doing a proper job because they are worried about their own trees. I still see people hacking on their live oaks all the time and when I explain the need to use paint and disinfectant they just give me blank stares. Several weeks ago I had a guy knock on my door selling his tree work. I played dumb and asked him about oak wilt. His answer was that they could dig a 6" trench around my trees before they pruned to prevent the spread. Very interesting I says. "So what are the signs that my trees could be infected?" I ask. His answer was that all the leaves would drop off at once. I couldnt help myself after that and very kindly explained that he was going to kill more trees than save if that is what he thought and suggested a few website to check out. The surprising thing is that he admitted he needed to do a better job learning about OW and left after a friendly handshake.

 

[Babberney]

Ooof--I have been trying to figure out how to STOP seeing that warning as it's phrased. I don't want to see homeowners and hacks pruning during spring months, but feel strongly that qualified professionals can safely prune oaks year round. The message we should be getting out is, hire a qualified company to do work on your oaks, at least during the spring. Unfortunately, all of this does not readily boil down to a handy sound bite the way "Do not prune" does, so I fear I face an uphill climb.

This assumes the qualified pros will be cognizant of the type of pruning they will do. If a branch is rubbing someone's roof, or a low branch is likely to get broken by a passing truck, and I can eliminate that really ugly wound with a neat collar cut, I am all over it. If someone planted 10 live oaks 2 years ago and wants a lot of structural pruning, I will definitely delay that until the pheromone cloud it creates will not be so likely to attract spore-toting beetles.

If we reach a point of a mandatory pruning ban during the spring (which has already been proposed in Austin and enacted in nearby Rollingwood), we will see law-abiding pros sit on their hands for four months (most Austin clients have oaks) while hacks will ignore the ban, which will get enforced spottily at best, I am sure. The management of this devastating disease will be placed in the hands of the least qualified people, and the problem will likely get worse, not better.

Where are you, Jody? Though this site hits the "Do not prune" message hard, I find it to be a good source of info on OW generally: http://www.texasoakwilt.org/

 

[jodystreeserv3]

Im right up the road in Temple, TX

 

[Chum]

Not very early on in the epidemic, but the principles (Appel and Johnston) were here to push "the method", invited by their (our) County agent.

Fredericksburg.

There was also cost-share available at the time - for trenching - by the State.

In fifteen years, there's been best to my count, around ten visits - attended by a fraction of affected landowners.

Every demonstration had been solely application seminars for ALAMO, ammended with the trenching recommendations.

The results speak for themselves. There are a lot of angry landowners now. What had been an excellent community-organizing tool for Austin didn't fair so well here - most all the info provided now - instead of the pamphets at the Extension Service - are talks I give to subdivision homeowners. I do not follow the State recommendations, but you know that.

To condense it down and probably unfairly concerning the landowners...the real estate industry has not been up to snuff on the Disclosure mandates and most people concerned enough to act fast on wilt are recent move-ins, either unaware of the syndrome or chose to be resistant to management until it's too late.

The best organizing going on around here last couple years - are landowners resisting Windfarms or the powerlines they need.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

I emailed Jenny Juswick to ask about the pheromone cloud that results from pruning and chipping live oaks. She said that this hasn't been researched very much but the studies that have been done don't show an attraction issue. She did say that it needs to be revisited again so that we understand more about the issue. Bottom line, Jenny says that it seems like an issue to consider not ignore.